Motlanthe swearing in delayed

2009-05-05 20:04

Cape Town - The swearing in of President Kgalema Motlanthe as a Member of Parliament is likely to be delayed so that he can stay on as the leader of the country until Saturday afternoon.

If he were to be sworn in as an MP on Thursday as planned, in terms of the Constitution he would then cease to be president.

"There will be a period of days where we will not have a president - we can't have that," ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told a press briefing in Parliament on Tuesday.

"We are getting legal opinion on the matter. Pending the outcome of that we will take a decision."

Mantashe added: "It is a technicality rather than a matter of principle."

Alternatively the party could wait to swear Motlanthe in until after ANC president Jacob Zuma took the oath of office at his inauguration in Pretoria on Saturday.

"Jacob Zuma will only become the President of South Africa when he raises his hand and says 'so help me God'," Mantashe said.

Zuma will lead the first group of ANC MPs to be sworn in on Thursday.

Mantashe said the former deputy health minister, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who was set to be appointed deputy speaker of the National Assembly, had decided not to be sworn in as an MP.

"Nozizwe wants to do something else outside of Parliament. We said okay."

Party MPs would be closely monitored and evaluated in the upcoming session of Parliament. This would take place in the office of the president and at party level.

"We must be more deep and scientific (in our monitoring). That is something we are going to take quite seriously."

- SAPA